Update on Quetzal Group

María Concepción, 38, says that a girlfriend invited her some months ago to become part of a group called “Quetzal” that asks for loans to improve their businesses. Conchita, like she’s affectionately called, has worked for the last three years making hand-made tortillas since she had no job because she never went to school and it’s hard for her to get a job since she doesn’t know how to read or write. She never attended school because her parents didn’t have enough to pay for school supplies. This is why Concepción decided to open her own business to help her husband with their children’s expenses since what he earns as an employee isn’t enough. She relates that at first it was difficult to get customers because there are other people who sell tortillas but now she has her own customers because she makes tortillas 100% of corn and people like that because the tortillas last a little longer and taste better.

She rises very early every day to start the ‘nixtamal’ [maize boiled in lime water] and then take it to be ground into dough to make tortillas. She uses a clay griddle and firewood because she says the tortillas taste better that way. She relates that she’s asking for this loan to buy corn, firewood, lime powder and another griddle because they only last three months because of all the use they get and this material is also more delicate. Conchita’s goal is to have more customers and to get a stand in the wholesale food market in a town nearby so she can earn higher profits.

The other group members are called Anastasia, Maribel, María del Pueblito, Nohelí Alejandra, Maricela, Virginia, Martha Isabel and Norma Edith. They will invest in their businesses which are: Mexican fast-food snacks like tacos, ‘pambazos’ [bread filled with chorizo and potatoes and dipped in red chili sauce], quesadillas [flour tortilla filled with cheese and other ingredients], and others, grocery store, moving and storage vehicle repair, costume jewelry making, materials and supplies to make embroidered napkins and seasonal fruit and vegetable sales.

Previous Loan Details

Noheli is from a populated area called Zitacuaro. She is a hard-working girl with the desire to get ahead. She says that honestly she didn't like school and that's why she only studied through the sixth grade, besides which her mom was not able to cover expenses since the fees were excessive and so…
More from Quetzal Group's previous loan »

Additional Information

Concurrent and Successive Loans

Our Field Partners often work with borrowers over a series of loans as the borrowers build credit, take out bigger loans, and expand their businesses. In order to make it easier for our Field Partners to post loans for borrowers who have been listed on Kiva before, we allow them to post successive and concurrent loans for their Kiva borrowers. This means that our Field Partners are able to post a borrower's second, third, etc., loan on Kiva without having to re-enter all of the borrower's information.

This borrower has been listed on Kiva before, so you'll see an updated loan description, as well as excerpts of the original descriptions from earlier loans. Most borrowers take out loans consecutively, meaning that they receive a second loan after having repaid the first. However, sometimes our Field Partners give out concurrent loans, allowing borrowers to take out one primary loan and a secondary "add-on" loan along with it. These "add-on" loans are typically smaller than the borrower's primary loan and serve a different purpose. Because Field Partners can now post loans as successive and concurrent loans, you will be able to track borrower progress over time and see the various ways a borrower is working with our Field Partners through funds from Kiva’s lenders.

This is a Group Loan

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.